Researching New Religious Movements / / Elisabeth Arweck.

• VerfasserIn: Arweck, Elisabeth,
• Place / Publishing House: London, United Kingdom : : Taylor & Francis,, 2006.
• Year of Publication: 2006
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (464 pages)

New religious movements such as the Moonies, Jehovah's Witnesses and Hare Krishnas are now well established in mainstream cultural consciousness. But responses to these 'cult' groups still tend to be overwhelmingly negative, characterized by the furious reactions that they evoke from majority interests. Modern societies need to learn how best to respond to such movements, and how to interpret their benefits and dangers. Researching New Religious Movements provides a cutting-edge analysis of the controversy around new religions in America and Europe today. Drawing on original fieldwork, it explores the battles between the recruiting factions of groups like the Moonies, and the anti-cult movements and Church societies that have mobilized to oppose these. It considers academic and media interventions on both sides, placing special emphasis on the problems of objectivity inherent in the language of 'sects', 'abduction' and 'brainwashing'. Ideal for students, researchers and professionals, this provocative and much-needed book takes the debate over new religious movements to a newly sophisticated level.

Table of Contents

What this book is about -- Milestones in a research itinerary -- Institutions and institutional knowledge -- Institutions -- Institutional knowledge -- Sketching in the cultural background -- The contours of religious cultures -- The contours of academic cultures -- The "anti-cult" movement's response -- The ACM response in Britain : the case of FAIR -- The ACM response in Germany : the case of Elterninitiative -- The response of the mainstream churches -- The Church of England's response -- The response of the Protestant Church in German -- Evangelische Zentralstelle für -- Weltanschauungsfragen (EZW) -- Pastor Friedrich-Wilhelm Haack and -- Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Religions- und -- Weltanschuungsfragen -- The response of the Roman Catholic Church -- Conclusions.